The Finest Years A Marauder Story
by Avye Brendi
Summary: Sirius, James, and Remus are not the only Gryffindors who know Remus' secret. Unknown to all others, two girls also join the Marauding - let the love, hate, war, and mayhem begin. EDIT: I am putting FY on hold indefinitely. I apologize to my readers.
1. 1: Kings Cross

DISCLAIMER: If I have to convince anyone that all Harry Potter characters do not belong to me, I will be very sad. I do own, however, Ana, Jay, Merri, and Serina. So no stealing... XP Enjoy.

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"I'll miss you so much, Keirana Brennan!"

"I'll miss you more, Jayden Perth!"

I hugged my best friend with tears running down my cheek. I was not one for crying (it's for sissies), but Jay had been my best and, well, only true friend since, like, two. Now that we were eleven, we were going to different schools in different parts of Britain. Separation is a horrible thing.

My train came into the station first, as she had scheduled her ride for a later time. She had things to do and people to say goodbye to before she left. With one last hug from her, and a ruffle of my hair, I boarded the train. Finding a seat close to where she was standing on the platform, I waved at her and smiled. Our last day together for a long, long time had come to an end.

The train shuffled forward, and the platform was soon out of sight. I took a small mirror out of my handbag and checked how horribly she had messed up my hair. The long black waves came down to my shoulder blades, but Jay hadn't done a terrible job – it didn't look too bad. I took a long look at my face in the mirror. My grey eyes were tearstained and my wild hair did little to hide my red face. I wiped away the tears with one sleeve. I hadn't realized I had cried that much. I thought myself a crybaby and then took out my book to read as the train made its way through the British countryside.

About an hour into my ride, I closed my book and pulled a piece of paper out of my bag. I had received it a month ago, and it was informing me that I had been accepted to a highly recommended school. But this school wasn't just any school, oh no! I had been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! I was a witch.

My parents were so proud when my letter came via owl, but only my dad knew what it really meant. He finally got around to telling my mom that he, in fact, was a wizard. She was so surprised that she almost fainted, but he grabbed her and conjured a glass of water for her on the table in front of him. Then she really did faint.

My father was not the businessman he pretended to be. As he told us so bluntly, he was an Auror. His "business trips" really involved staking out and shadowing would-be criminals, apprehending them if necessary. This my mother had not known until I received my letter.

My books and wand were now stowed away in my trunk, and my owl was to be sent to Hogwarts when I got there, as we didn't want to attract unwanted attention from Muggle (or non-wizard) passers-by.

I reread my letter a million times, checking to see if I had missed or forgotten anything important. I was so involved in reading, that I jumped a mile high when a male's voice came over the loudspeaker.

"_We are now approaching Kings Cross Station. All those who deboard the train at Kings Cross Station, please gather your belongings. Kings Cross Station_." It said as the train started to slow.

I grabbed my bag and trunk and got off the train as it came into the station. I was too busy with my belongings that I never noticed how marvelous Kings Cross was. When I finally had the chance to be aware of my surroundings, I stood in awe of them. People were bustling here and there; others were running to catch their trains. Conductors were shouting "All aboard" and the trains were honking their horns as if eager to leave this crowded, noisy place.

I stood leaning against a pillar until I finally had the sense to look down at my watch. I had a couple hours to spare, so I bought a magazine and some chocolate bars to pass the time. I sat down on a bench by the magazine stand and started to flip through _Britteen_ Magazine, munching away on my chocolate bars as I turned page after page. Before I knew it, my train was scheduled to leave within a half hour. I picked up my bag, slung it over my shoulder and hauled my trunk to the barrier between platforms nine and ten. My dad had told me how to get onto Platform 9 ¾, so I had no trouble at all leaning into the solid brick barrier between platforms nine and ten. I hoped that no Muggle noticed me, but usually they were too blind, so I didn't worry too much. A tingling sensation ran down my spine as I passed through the brick wall to the adventure that was awaiting me.

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OOC: Sorry it's a little short. I needed to get an intro done.

More about Ana:  
Ana was born into a broken family, but this does not come up a lot. Her mom died in child birth with her younger brother, and her older brother, an Auror, was killed days later. However, her father remarried and now Ana's stepmom is the ideal mother, even though she is a Muggle. Including her younger brother, Ana has 4 other siblings - (by age) one true older brother, one older half-brother, one true younger brother, and one younger half-brother. Her true older brother also is a wizard, and he attends Hogwarts with her, but being a 7th year when Ana is a first year, he doesn't get mentioned a lot. In fact, her family is rarely mentioned except for her true younger brother, who is dear to Ana.

So there you have it, Chapter One! Enjoy!!


	2. 2: Meeting Friends and Reaching Hogwarts

A scarlet train with the words "Hogwarts Express" greeted me with a _toot! _as I wheeled my trunk through the crowds of chattering schoolchildren, some in street clothes, others in black robes that came down to their ankles. My robes were safely packed in my trunk, and I hadn't planned to put them on until the train started moving.

All of them were speaking of one thing or another, some about Quiddich matches, others about the spells they forgot over the summer break. One boy was even sending spells at another boy, provoking the victim to send a flash of red light at the attacker. I shook my head in disgust as I wheeled the cart in the direction of the train door.

All of a sudden, as I passed a bunch of chattering blondes, my cart hit something and stopped, sending the contents of my book bag spilling all over the ground. Quills and rolls of parchment rolled this way and that as I quickly reached down to gather them all up.

Another person began to help me pick up my supplies. I looked up at the person as they grabbed the last quill. It was a boy of about my age. He had short brown hair and grey eyes like mine, and he was already changed into his robes. He stuck out his hand to help me up as he spoke.

"Hey. You alright?" he asked as I took his hand. It was somewhat rough in places, but very smooth in others – almost like he had been scarred. He pulled me up and I stumbled to my feet.

"I'm fine" I replied, brushing the dust off of my pants. "Sorry for hitting your cart." I added as I saw his cart and mine touching. He reached out a hand to help me up as he spoke.

"Don't worry about it. I'm Remus. Remus Lupin. First Year."

"Keirana Brennan. Call me Ana. First year as well" I said as I took his hand once more. He smiled and looked up at the clock located above our heads.

"We better get a seat soon. We only have a few minutes left. Why don't we sit together?" He said. I too, looked at the clock. We had 5 minutes to spare, so I followed Remus as he boarded the train and found an empty compartment. We chatted for a while as we unloaded our things into the overhead bin and sat down. As soon as we had taken a seat, the compartment door opened, revealing a black-haired boy. He was my age as well and had glasses that he pushed up every once in a while.

"Why hullo James! It's been too long!" Remus said joyfully as he approached what I assumed to be an acquaintance of his. They exchanged hugs and handshakes before sitting down across from me. I introduced myself and found the boy's name to be James Potter. He was also in his robes, but they already were a bit scruffier than Remus'. There was an awkward silence before James spoke up.

"There's another boy coming that'll probably join us. I met him on the platform. The name of…Sirius Black, I believe. Seemed nice, but had a bit of an anger management problem with that grease-haired boy out there…" he said, his voice fading away as the compartment door slid open again, this time to present a boy with longish black hair, almost exactly like mine, except a lot straighter. He looked about at the occupants of the compartment with a smile on his face, his blue eyes landing on me.

"Is there something on my face?" he asked, smiling.

"Oh, no…sorry." I said as I looked away, I had been staring at him for a few moments. He had fascinated me for those few brief moments. His hair fell along his face in exactly the right place and his eyes twinkled brightly, like a kid in a candy store. The boy introduced himself as the Sirius Black that James had met on the platform.

The train lurched forward as Sirius sat down next to me, his hands behind his head. The boys exchanged bits of conversation about their bloodlines (they were all pureblood), childhoods, and the Muggle schools they went to. I chimed in every once in a while, but for the better part of an hour, I kept my eyes on the scenery outside. I finally tore my eyes away from the window for the last time as a girl outside yelled at the top of her lungs.

The voice sounded familiar, but I thought nothing of it, as I didn't know anyone on this train until today. I did stand up however, to see what the commotion was about. I stepped up to the compartment door and stuck my head out as a boy screamed at another person. I could feel the boys behind me doing the same.

A boy and a girl were going at it in the middle of the aisle way, and it seemed the girl was winning. She was kicking some serious butt. I couldn't see the girls face, as her chin-length brown hair covered it, but the boy's face was distracting enough. He had sallow skin, a bloody nose, and his greasy hair was messed up from the fighting. He was obviously not a good fighter, so it surprised me that he had held up until now.

Making the final blow, a kick to the back of the boy's knee, the girl sent the defeated boy to the ground. Only when she turned around did I get to see her face. It took me half a second to recognize my best friend.

"JAY!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. She didn't realize who had called her, so she looked around at the group of students that was starting to form. Then she glanced my way and a look of surprise passed over her face.

"Ana? Ana? Is that you? But…but…I thought you were at a boarding school." Jay said looking me straight in the eye. She walked toward me, her brown and yellow eyes sparkling with delight.

"I am! I got the same letter you did. We are both going to Hogwarts!" I replied. We embraced and reentered the compartment I had been in moments ago. Jay sat next to Remus and across from me. We talked about our families and how they reacted when we each got our letters. This time it was the boys who were silent for quite a while. Once in a while, Remus or James would reply to a question about the wizarding world, but Sirius was quiet the rest of the train ride.

Finally, the scarlet express train pulled into the Hogwarts/Hogsmeade station. Eager to begin the new school year, dozens of students were cramming the hallways. Everyone wanted to be off the train and out into the open air. In the crowds, I lost track of my group. I couldn't see the school from here, but I expected we'd get a chance soon enough. I was reunited with Sirius, James, Remus and Jay when we all followed the voice of a man calling "First Years, First Years this way!

As a group, all of the first years followed the tremendous man who I supposed to be the groundskeeper. He seemed to be taller than the surrounding trees and his voice was deep even though is mouth was covered with a monster of a beard. He introduced himself as Hagrid and he lead us down a winding trail through a dense forest of evergreen trees. Our first view of the school came when we followed the man around a bend in the trail he was leading us down. On the other side of a huge lake stood a castle so big that one could only assume it to be the school.

Hagrid led all of the first years down to a fleet of boats at the edge of the lake. He told us to get in and to not touch the water or the lanterns that hung from a pole sticking up at the front of the boats. Soon enough we were crossing the lake toward the huge castle. I pinched myself to make sure that this wasn't a dream, and then looked over at Jay who seemed to be doing the exact same thing. The boats drifted across the gigantic lake and into an inlet that seemed to be directly underneath the castle. Hagrid was the first out of the boats, directing us onto the shore and helping the sallow skinned boy who had fallen into the lake moments before. Sirius, James and I were laughing, while Remus tutted behind our backs. Once everyone was safe and dry, the groundskeeper knocked on a giant wooden door in the rock wall.

The door was opened by a strict looking woman in emerald green robes. Hagrid spoke to the woman and then ushered all of the first-years through the door and into the hallway behind it. We were then led up to another gigantic set of doors by the professor who introduced herself as Professor McGonagall, Transfiguration teacher. By the time she was finished giving us a rather long speech about "houses" and "house points", the entire first year group was so nervous about getting sorted, that one rather frail looking girl looked about ready to pass out.

Soon enough, we were ushered through the doors and into a gigantic hall full of the students we had seen on the train, and others that looked unfamiliar. The ceiling of this great hall was dark and starry, and I wasn't alone in being in awe of the décor in the hall.

I hadn't realized the group had stopped until I ran into Sirius who had been standing in front of me. He looked back to see who had bumped him, and gave me a smile as I backed up, blushing.

Professor McGonagall went into another speech about how we were to be sorted, and then began calling names. Sirius was the third to sit on the stool and be sorted with a tattered old hat. He was put into Gryffindor, along with a kid I didn't know. Then it was my turn. McGonagall called out "Brennan, Keirana" and I squeezed through the few students in front of me to sit on the stool. The hat was placed on my head, and I waited for it to yell out my house. I heard some noises as if the hat was making up its mind. I began to worry that I would be sorted into the wrong house and I wouldn't be with Jay after all. In the middle of this thought, the hat caught me by surprise and called out "GRYFFINDOR!" I handed the hat back to Professor McGonagall and practically skipped to the table that was cheering the loudest. I sat down in an empty seat between Sirius and a prefect, and waited for James and Jay to be sorted. They, too, were placed in Gryffindor, and we all celebrated by giving each other high-fives. Sirius looked the happiest of all of us that he had been put into Gryffindor. I smiled at him and he grinned back as Headmaster Dumbledore began to speak. Neither of us were listening.

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I really don't know what's with these short chapters.

So here's my debate. I have about 22 pages on word of this story so far, spread out between 1st and 6th year. Should I do one big long story (like, 50+ chapters) or should I break it up by year? Maybe 1st and 2nd together? Etc? Dunno. Leave comments and tell me what you think.

Oh, and by the way, the reason this looks so much like "The True Maraders" by Jayden M. Perth is because it's the exact same story but better. I am Jayden, but I hated that penname because it was a name in the story, so this is much better. The story works better anyway, because I save the romantic parts for sixth year.

Want a teaser?

"As the tenth bell rang its note, the presence of the man behind me lifted, and as I turned to face the man I had started to like, the emptiness surrounding me made me realize I was most certainly alone. Instead, where the masked stranger had stood, a flower spun slowly on the spot, floating mid-air at my eye level.

A single, thorn less, crimson rose."

Whee!!


	3. 3: Saturday and Schedules

After a gigantic meal of everything my heart could desire, we adjourned to following the Gryffindor prefect to the Common Room. We climbed flight after flight of stairs, some moving before we could go any farther. Finally the boy stopped in front of a portrait of a rather large woman he addressed as the "Fat Lady". He muttered the password ("Expecto Patronum"), just loud enough for us to hear, and then stepped aside to let the portrait swing forward. He led us into the Common room, adorned with red and gold fabrics and wallpapers, and up to the dormitory stairs. "Girls on the left, boys on the right" was all I heard before the mass of students began climbing the stairs to the comfortable beds that were waiting for them. I changed into my pajamas and slipped under the covers of my four-poster, falling asleep a split-second after my head hit the pillow.

I awoke with a start the next morning. I reached for my muggle watch on the nightstand to check the time. Stunned, I tapped the face of the watch to make sure it was telling the correct time. 9:07! I was late! The first day at Hogwarts and I had already slept in past nine!

I was in the middle of slipping into my blue jeans when the girl in the four-poster next to mine stirred. I was startled that another girl in my dorm had slept in as late as I had. To my even greater surprise, the girl poked her head out of the curtains and gave me a funny look.

"What?" I asked her as I pulled my new 'Weird Sisters' crimson shirt over my head. She tucked a lock of her fiery red hair behind her ear and sighed.

"Why you would want to get up this early on a Saturday is beyond me." she pulled her head back behind her curtains. A second later, the girl stepped out from her bed. Her nightgown trailed as she stepped over to her trunk. "But I'll join you." She added, pulling her clothes out of her trunk.

I smacked myself in the forehead. Duh, it was Saturday. No wonder no one was up. I smacked my forehead again. Gawd, I was so stupid. When I looked up, the read-haired girl was dressing in neat school clothes and her robes.

I turned to look in the body-length mirror between Jay's and my bed. I knew she was still sleeping, as I could hear snoring coming from behind the curtains. Acting on an impulse, I tore back the curtains and yelled at the top of my lungs.

"JAY! WAKE UP! IT'S SATURDAY!" I screamed. She and the two other girls in the dorm sat up with a start. When she realized who had woken her up, she reached to strangle me, but got caught up in her blankets and landed face first on the floor. Both the read-haired girl and I laughed loudly as Jay untangled herself from her sheets. She left to wash her face in the bathroom while my companion and I continued laughing.

As soon as we caught out breath, we both went to make up our beds and grab our wands. By that time, Jay had returned grinning. She dressed and the three of us headed down to the Gryffindor Common Room, chatting all the while. Jay and I learned that the other first-year girl's name was Lily Evans, and that she was muggle-born like Jay. We reached the common room laughing at one of Jay's jokes.

We sat down on the couch next to Remus who was starting into the fire. He greeted us with a smile, although he didn't take his eyes off the flickering flames. When Lily and Jay continued with their conversations of how they thought magic worked, I stood up and moved so I was sitting on the other side of Remus. He leaned back with his hands in his lap and his eyes closed and sighed as if he had remembered something very sad. I was going to ask him what was wrong, but at that instant, a door slammed from somewhere upstairs and two male voices came drifting down into the common room. James and Sirius were conversing as they walked down from their dormitory as I had done with Jay and Lily.

They took one look at the four of us sitting there, particularly Jay, Lily and me, looked at each other and then burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" spoke Lily and I in unison. They were laughing so hard that they couldn't answer, so Jay turned to Remus, who was smiling too. She looked very puzzled as she asked. "What's with them? Ana doesn't look _that_ funny."

I stared open mouthed at her, but I couldn't help but have the slightest bit of a smile playing on my lips. We deserved to be each other's best friend. By this time, James was clutching to the back of Lily's chair for support and Sirius had collapsed in the armchair opposite me, still laughing.

"They stayed up all night talking. I only heard bits and pieces of it, so I don't know what they are laughing about." He said innocently. "At least I _got_ some sleep." He added as Sirius and James struggled to catch their breaths.

I looked over at Lily to catch her rolling her eyes. James was grinning at her, still containing his laughter. Sirius was still smiling, but he had stopped laughing.

"Wouldn't you like to know what we were talking about, Perth." he said, running a hand through his long black hair and sitting up a little straighter. Lily took her eyes off of James and, still with a disgusted look on her face, looked up at Sirius.

"Actually, Black, that is exactly what we'd like to know." She said, standing up and walking to the opposite side of the room from James. One could tell James wasn't too excited about that, but he didn't make it too obvious. He took Lily's seat and turned to the rest of the group.

"Eh, we were just talking about stuff." He said, as innocently as Remus, only no one believed he was really that innocent.

"Enough with the talking. I'm hungry." Sirius spoke up. "Why don't we converse over our first Hogwarts breakfast?"

The rest of us murmured an "Alright" and a "Yeah, sure" as they stood up. We left the common room in pairs, continuing to talk about random things, such as Nearly-headless Nick, whom we passed as we walked. I walked with Sirius and Jay with Remus. They seemed to be having a spirited discussion about magical beasts and such. A disgruntled Lily was walking with James and she looked none too pleased about it. He smiled at her every chance he got, but she only rolled her eyes as she ran to catch up with Sirius and me.

"He is _so_ annoying" Lily whispered as she walked beside me. I looked over my shoulder at the black haired boy she was talking about. He had joined Remus and Jay in the conversation about Nearly-headless Nick. I turned back to Lily and rolled my eyes. She opened her mouth to say something, but then thought better of it. Instead, she looked straight ahead at the door to the Great Hall, which was quickly approaching. Remus stepped in to open the door for the six of us, and we took a seat at the table we had sat at only hours ago. This morning, the table was set with every kind of breakfast food imaginable. Included in this were Belgian waffles, sausages, fruit, and eggs, or at least that's all that I piled onto my plate. One of the boys down the table from us had something that looked like vanilla pudding on his.

There was an awkward silence as everyone dug into their breakfasts except Remus. He just pushed his eggs from one side of the plate to the other. I guessed he wasn't feeling his best. Maybe he had eaten something last night; he had looked a bit peaky.

The morning went by quickly, and sooner than I expected, I found myself sitting under a beech tree on the grounds. All of my fellow classmates were examining their schedules, each with a different emotion displaying on their faces. Remus looked quite happy, as did I, but James had a look of pure disgust.

"We have classes with the Slytherins Monday, Thursday, and Friday! Potions, Transfiguration, and more Potions!" he groaned. Closing his eyes, he leaned back against the tree and groaned again.

"Ah, come on James!" Jay spoke up. "I mean, Slytherins can't be _that_ bad! Besides, one of those classes is with Professor McGonagall, so they can't do anything there." I knew she was trying to brighten the mood, but she was thinking about the grease-haired boy and how she would have to see him three days a week.

During all of this, Remus and Sirius hadn't said a word. Most of us knew why Sirius was quiet. His mum had sent him a Howler during breakfast. I doubted that he wasn't thinking about her screaming voice saying "DISGRACEFUL!" and "TALK TO THE SLYTHERIN HEAD OF HOUSE FOR A TRANSFER!" Sirius had moved to the other side of the beech tree and was staring out at the lake.

The others seemed involved in their discussion, so I silently moved next to where he was sitting.

"What's on your mind?" I asked. I smiled as he looked up at me slightly startled.

"Just…stuff" he replied, turning back. We watched as the Giant Squid stuck a tentacle out of the water and brought it down on the surface, splashing a passing third-year.

"You know," Sirius said after a moment's silence. "I'm glad I was put into Gryffindor. I'm glad I didn't follow in my family's footsteps." Smiling for the first time since breakfast, he punched me in the arm. "I wouldn't be friends with you…or James, Jay, Lily, Remus…" he added. He stood up and offered me a hand to help me up. I grinned and led the way back to our cluster of friends.


	4. 4: Classes and Rescuing Merri

Sunday came and went and the Monday morning sun woke me up early. I dressed in jeans and a navy blue halter-top. My robes went over those clothes, and I slipped my feet from slippers into black boots. My books for Monday classes were already in my Chudley Cannons book bag, so making the least noise possible, I slipped it over my shoulder and headed into the Common Room. Once again, I found Remus already up. He didn't look up as I stepped on the last stair. He jumped a mile in the air when I spoke a hello, so he must have been concentrating on something else. I was too tired to strike up a conversation; so instead, I took a seat in front of a gigantic window and stared out onto the grounds. The sun was just beginning it's ascent into the heavens, perhaps it was 6:30. I pulled out my class list and checked what time my first class began. "Charms 8:00" it read. Eight o'clock seemed a long ways off now.

The grounds were coated in early morning dew, and the leaves were just starting to fall from the trees in the Forbidden Forest. Perfect weather in my opinion.

I sat at the window for a while, only looking away when I heard a rustle nearby. I found Remus standing up and stretching. He moved toward the common room door, which was a few feet to my left. He spotted me in my armchair and stopped. There was a split-second silence before he spoke.

"Um, I'm going to get some breakfast. Join me?" he said, extending his arm. I opened my mouth to speak but before I could utter a word, my stomach did the talking for me. It let out an embarrassingly large rumble at the sound of food.

"I guess that's a yes!" he added. He looked quite happy that someone was accompanying him. I stood up and took his arm as we exited the common room together.

The hallways were fairly silent as we walked down toward the Great Hall. The only sound disrupting this silence were the patter of a few student's feet and the hurried whispers of the rare student's around me.

I slipped my arm out of his as we came closer to the Great Hall. He opened the door for me and a couple of passing girls. They giggled when he smiled at them, and I rolled my eyes. The Gryffindor table was empty, except for the few students that had gathered at the east end. I took a seat near the pile of waffles and took a couple (ok, maybe five or six) and dug in. Remus, being his dainty self, took one and ate it in very small bites as I stuffed my face.

I mopped my plate up with one last bite as the Great Hall's oak doors opened for the millionth time this morning. Lily came in first and it looked as if she was lecturing the two boys behind her. James and Sirius mocked her sternness by over exaggerating her movements when her back was turned. The two seemed to be becoming the best of friends even though we'd only been here three days.

Breakfast ended within the next half-hour, and all the students were dismissed to their first class of the semester. James led the way, with Sirius and Remus tailing him. Lily, Jay, and I took up the rear, talking about the boys in front of us.

"Oh-em-gee…you and Sirius make such a cute couple, Ana" Jay whispered excitedly.

"How did you ever get that idea?" I replied. "In fact, how can you even think that? We've known these boys for three days and you are already playing matchmaker?" I rolled my eyes and then hurried my pace to catch up with the boys. Perhaps their conversation would be a bit more interesting.

The day went by fairly smoothly. After Charms came History of Magic, and then lunch. After lunch, came Potions, where the day went downhill a bit. The grease-haired boy was, of course in Slytherin, so he was in Potions with us, to Jay's dismay. "Forty-five minutes of Slytherinized hell" as James had taken to calling it. Professor Slughorn was the potions teacher, so the class itself was not the worst of the period. The Slytherins had taken to the tradition of Gryffindor vs. Slytherin and were taunting some and picking on others. One boy had even stolen Heather Punicci's glasses and was holding them high above her head when the professor wasn't watching. Heather was crying terribly. A simple, well placed hex got Heather her spectacles back. I did a little bow for the couple of students who were watching as the bell rang for class to end. I gathered my books and headed for Defense Against the Dark Arts.

James, Sirius, Remus, Jay, Lily, and I stood outside the classroom and joked around waiting for the class room to open. Jay, Lily and Remus couldn't stop laughing at a squib joke James had just told as the classroom door creaked open. The Defense Against the Dark Arts professor invited us into the classroom and the six of us took seats in the far corner. Professor Donovan was the most enthusiastic teacher we were unlucky enough to get. It seemed that she was just a little bit too obsessed with the Dark Arts or Defense thereof. Both Jay and I became the slightest bit spooked by her over exaggerated gestures and the odd stare she gave the class when she talked in her mystifying voice.

The class was over (luckily) in forty-five minutes, and class let out for the rest of the day. Most of the Hogwarts students mulled about in their respective common rooms, or headed outside to enjoy the weather. Our group dropped our books off in our dorms and adjourned to the outside grounds.

"That wasn't so bad" Remus commented as we walked toward the beech tree we had deemed our hangout. He seemed to be feeling much better than he had this morning, and was even smiling at random people that we passed.

"It wasn't for you, that's for sure" Sirius replied sitting down under the shade of the tree's long branches. "You're not the one she was staring at almost the whole class…"

"Gave me the creeps" I cut in. Her stare had been a bit spooky. I shivered as if someone had just put ice cubes down my back.

"Well if you hadn't been talking the entire period, perhaps she wouldn't have stared at you four." Lily said, pointing at Sirius, James, Jay, and I. "We might not have gotten homework either if it hadn't been for your mouths!" With that, she pulled her Defense against the Dark Arts book out and began looking up the spell Professor Donovan had told us to do a bit of work on. Every now and then she would look up from her book and either roll her eyes or _tut, tut, tut_ us as we spoke about this afternoon's classes.

Dinnertime rolled around and the feast was just as big as the start of term one. Everyone ate to their fill and then headed up to the common room to work on homework they had received for Monday.

"_I've_ already done my homework." Lily continued to say as the crowd of Gryffindors piled through the portrait hole. "I don't have to do _my_ homework because _I've_ already done it!"

It wasn't until James told her to shut up that she stopped talking. We were all very relieved when she climbed the stairs in a huff and slammed the dormitory door behind her, making our quills shift in the ink bottles. The homework for the first school day was easy, as logic would have foretold, so the five of the group still remaining finished quickly, leaving the rest of the evening for talking and other random pleasures.

The weeks flew by, continuing with homework, Jay's complaints about homework, Lily's stubbornness over our refusal to do homework on time, and James/Sirius' sarcasm about Lily's stubbornness over our refusal to do homework on time.

"I can't believe you guys!" she shrieked at us one Thursday night in the library. "You think just because you are passing gives you the right to never do your homework!" Grabbing her bag, the red-headed, red-faced Lily stormed off, ignoring Madame Pince's irritated shushing.

"Geez…" Sirius rolled his eyes and chuckled. "She's the one who gets so stressed out about us failing that she _offers_ her homework to us to copy when we're behind." I couldn't help but laugh.

"Not like you refuse or anything! Maybe _asking her_ for her homework tonight was pushing it a little."

Remus just shook his head and grunted while Jay stifled a giggle – "I hope for all of our sakes… well, maybe except for Remus… that we get to copy off her again. This Moonstone essay is giving me fits…"

I was about to contradict her thought when a loud bang erupted from the outside corridor. "What the bloody hell was that?" James and Jay muttered in unison as I stood in shock. The shotgun sound had given me a start, that's for sure. I did nothing but shrug my shoulders as the students looked this way and that for answers. As a group, we all ran to the library door and pulled it open to see a mob starting to form at the end of the corridor – as curious as we were, all of us headed in the direction of the mob to investigate, following Sirius to the scene of the disturbance. I could hear the patter of a returned Lily, James, Jay, and Remus jogging behind me. I passed Sirius in the crowd already gathered, and was ungraciously pushed to the inner edge of the open circle.

On the ground was a red-haired boy, clutching his right arm with his left hand. Standing above and a little farther up the corridor from him was a girl who had a strange likeness to Sirius. Same hair and eye color, but she was…different. She didn't have the mischievous glint in her eyes. No, her eyes were full of hatred, not innocent fun.

One of the Slytherins behind her, a blond boy, was doubled up in laughter, praising "Bella" for her work. I recognized the instantly as Bellatrix Black, Sirius' older cousin, one of the muggle-haters James had pointed out to me on the first day.

She was pointing her wand down at the boy. As his fingers crept toward his wand, which was laying a foot away from him, I realized that Bellatrix was in a higher year than us – a Slytherin – and the boy was one of us: a first year Gryffindor.

"How'd you feel now you little creep. That was just a starter. You should have learned never to give me cheek…" Bellatrix was muttering as her face grew redder and redder with anger. She must have been thinking of what hex or jinx to use on him, because a moment later she opened her mouth. Her hex was cut off however by a blast of goldenrod light from behind me, and a shout of "_Petrificus Totallus_". The next moment, Bellatrix was face up on the ground, arms and legs tight together, and Sirius was pushing past me with a quiet "Sorry for scaring you".

He walked out into the open circle toward his cousin. He looked down at her with a serious expression on his face.

"You do that enough to me at home. I won't let you do it to anyone here" he said in a barely audible whisper. Then his face broke into a smile as he turned to face the injured boy. As he knelt down, I noticed another Slytherin, a boy quietly pull his wand from his pocket and point it at Sirius. I withdrew mine as well, but James sent another Full Body Bind hex his way before I could mutter the incantation. Remus, Jay, and Lily had already approached Sirius, so James and I joined them as they surrounded the injured boy, who was checking out the frozen Bellitrix over Sirius' shoulder. He was smiling at the defeat of his attacker, but was still clutching his arm, which looked as if it was bleeding heavily.

"Thanks, err…Sirius, right?" The boy said. "Thanks a lot. I'm Merri, by the way, Merri Van Trak."

"Well Merri," I said after we had all made our introductions. "We need to get you to the hospital wing. Your arm is bleeding pretty badly." Remus and James escorted Merri to Madam Pomfrey in the hospital wing as Jay, Lily and I congratulated Sirius for a job well done.

"That was extraordinary," Jay exclaimed.

"Amazing" I agreed.

"Thanks girls, but it's not over yet. Bellatrix isn't going to take this too well." Sirius replied, even though he was grinning ear to ear.

--

Yay for Chapter Four. Chapter five wasn't originally part of the story, but it is most definitely necessary, so I will have that up soon.

Enjoy!


	5. 5: The Beginnings of a FanClub

Word spread like wildfire throughout the school, and every story differed. In one, a first year Gryffindor had participated in an official duel with a 3rd year Slytherin and had won. In another, the one Slytherin turned into a dozen, and in a third story (one I heard over breakfast) the Slytherins were huge and they were 7th years.

All the same, Sirius Black had become famous overnight. His 'defeat' of his cousin Bellatrix took on a life of its own and projected him from common first year status to one of the Hogwarts elite popularity. Of course, those of us who had been his friend in his humbler state were also considered amazing – James especially, who took it upon himself to make sure that everyone knew that he had taken out one of the Malfoy clan in the same duel.

The dynamic duo became inseparable and the rest of us were dragged along for the ride, in one case, completely unwillingly.

"YOU ARE INSUFFERABLE!" Lily screamed at the top of her lungs one Wednesday night in February. Slamming her books down on the table, she sprinted up the stairs, which became a slide just as she reached the top as if the stairs knew that James would be following at her heels. Sure enough, just as the dormitory door slammed, he slid down onto the floor at the foot of the slide.

"She sure is fiery…" he said, almost in awe, as he picked himself off of the floor.

Sirius looked up over his book – yes, he was actually studying – and grinned. "You chose the red-head, mate."

"Shut your face, Sirius," James said with a mock glare toward Sirius.

"See, James, I go for the girls with something in their head other than just facts and test-taking skills." Sirius continued. "They have to, you know, look –"

"Like me?" a voice squeaked from behind me. Startled, I caught myself just in time to keep from falling out of my chair. Spinning around, I immediately regretted it. Standing just next to Sirius was Serina Malacoff, the most flirtatious and obscenely pretty girl in third year. Her looks made up for what she lacked in brains, although she seemed to be unable to comprehend her idiocy. I just laughed at the fact that she was still falling all over Sirius.

When we had arrived, she wanted nothing to do with boys who thought it would be funny to explode dungbombs in the middle of the corridors – third years didn't hang out with first years, after all – but now that Sirius and James were famous, she wanted nothing to do _without_ them, it seemed.

"That's what you were going to say, wasn't it?" Serina continued, batting those ugly baby blues at Sirius, who was sitting dumbstruck with his book in his lap.

When he first met Serina, he thought he was the luckiest man on the planet – he was the guy who got to go out with a _third year_. Then he realized what kind of girl Serina was – she claimed a guy and then expected to have a _very_ open relationship.

"Sure…" he responded, sounding very unsure of what to say. Serina doubled over in a fit of giggles and while her back was turned, Sirius mouthed "Help" to the rest of us, who seemed to be fighting our own laughter. It was his own fault that the girls had gone gaga over him, not to mention that he egged them on with that little "swipe" of his hair every now and then, and we wanted nothing to do with it. Finally Merri spoke up to Sirius, trying to draw attention off of Serina.

"So, Sirius, what were you saying about how you really liked girls with brown hair?" he said with a straight face. Blonde Serina's smile drooped for a split second, but was instantly replaced with another brilliant one. Noticing this, Merri continued, "I thought you were talking about Ana for a minute there before Serina came along."

Sirius laughed. He seriously laughed. I guess he couldn't take it any longer.

"That's right," we managed to translate in between fits. "I lurve Ana with all my heart and I don't know how any guy can go without a brunette by his side." In mock swooning, Sirius fell out of his chair to the feet of mine. "Oh, my darling, whatever shall I do to win your heart?!"

"Start by growing three years and six inches – then we'll talk", I cracked back, slapping his hands away with my DADA book.

Serina seemed to have disappeared from the common room, which led everyone else into a much happier mood. As we resumed studying, muttering from James' corner of the table did much to distract us.

"Brunettes… Lily's not… stupid Sirius… _Ana_…"

Sirius finally wacked him one upside the head with a roll of parchment and all was silent again except the frantic scratching of quills.

--

I know its short! Please don't kill me!

This was an addition to the original story and I had to work on it a while – I had to make Sirius' fan-club have a realistic reason for existing, after all. He took on Bellatrix (which he really shouldn't have done – you'll find out why later… -enter suspense music-).

-huggles Snuffles plushie-


	6. 6: Finals and Families

Such conversations slowly diminished as the spring months arrived – final exams were haunting everyone, including Remus, Merri, and myself who had hid ourselves in the library with the knowledge that James and Sirius would avoid coming into find us.

Laying out in front of us on the table were several heavy textbooks, none of which seemed to be helping us the least bit.

Merri had been prodding a pebble for the past twenty minutes in a vain attempt to turn it into a coat button. Muttering the incantation under his breath, he tapped the pebble yet again and, instead of achieving the desired result, accidently hit it across the table at Remus who had been contently studying _Transfiguration for Trolls_ – he, of course, could produce a coat button in an instant. Setting down his book and raising an eyebrow, he pulled the pebble out of its landing spot in his tawny hair and tossed it back to Merri.

"Try not waving your wand so much," he said nonchalantly as I snickered behind my hand. My deformed coat button had been sitting on the table for well over ten minutes, and when I pointed this out to Merri, he only dove further into his concentration.

The silence that followed was quickly broken by the arrival of two other members of our 'clan' – Jay took a seat across from me and Lily sat next to Merri. She probably hoped to help him, but his stubborn refusal was less than kind. He wanted to "do it himself" after all...

"Aren't you going to study?" I asked Jay, who was leaning back in her chair and eating a Honeydukes bar she had bought off a fourth year. "Final exams start two weeks from now and you've barely touched a book."

Responding after she placed the candy underneath the table – Madame Pince was walking by – and brought it back out, she said "I don't need to. Have it all right up here." This statement would have been more effective had she not gotten chocolate in her hair when she tried to point to her head. Lily, Remus, and I tried to cover up our laughter as she frantically grabbed at the bits of chocolate (Merri was still focused, of course).

"Do you think I could just sneak a coat button in?" he finally asked after failing for the ump-teenth time. "McGonagall wouldn't notice would... stupid question." He had seen the looks on our faces as he asked us – McGonagall would not only have noticed, she would have thrown a fit.

And indeed she did. Some Hufflepuff boy, Diggory I think, tried to sneak in a black bobble button by using the cuff of his sleeve. Sadly, McGonagall walked by just as he was trying to pull it out and made a scene in front of the entire classroom before kicking him out of the final (he went on to pass anyway, but it was worth mentioning).

The rest of the first-year finals went well, although Slughorn's potion test had been the hardest for me. Lily was still complaining about it even as the group of us (this time including James and Sirius) reached the common room.

"I can't believe I forgot to stir it the twelfth time! How stupid could I be!" she protested to our rolling eyes. "And then History of Magic I'm sure I failed and Defense Against the Dark Arts," she swiveled around and looked at me. "What did you get for the werewolf question?" I only had time to open my mouth before she continued. "I know I read that someplace and I can't believe how I could have forgo-"

"Lily!" Jay called out from her position stoking the fireplace. Silent, the rest of us looked across the common room at the girl, waiting for her to continue.

"Shut up."

Startled, Lily didn't respond.

"Best suggestion you've had all day, Jayden my dear," Sirius replied, simply causing Lily to glare at him before she stomped back up the stairs to the dormitories.

**************

Of course, Lily did pass all of her exams – with flying colors.

None of the rest of us did as well, except for perhaps Remus who probably would have gotten better scores had the teachers not been called to his dormitory the night before to investigate a strange firecracker incident.

Jay, Merri, James, Sirius, and I all had similar scores – fair in Defense Against the Dark Arts and Transfiguration and terrible in History of Magic (barely good enough to pass). Jay had barely fair marks across the board, although her lack of studying did make her scores pale in comparison to the rest of ours.

The knowledge that final exams were over meant that the first year of our Hogwarts life had come to an end. Jay and I frequently exchanged excited comments about what we were going to do when we got back to our families. We promised each other that we would see each other every weekend and help each other on the summer work (which Lily was proud to say that she had finished) and we would regularly babysit my two little brothers.

James and Merri were just as ecstatic to be returning home. James' family was wealthy, and he kept boasting to anyone who would listen that his summer vacation consisted of a trip to Egypt to see the pyramids. Merri was more humble about his family and their plans.

"Nothing much," he said over dinner two nights before we were set to leave. "We're spending a month or so in Wales studying Welsh wizards through archeology, although I'd rather not go." Startled by our raised eyebrows and questioning faces, he continued, "there's only so much I really want to know about Welsh wizards and I've pretty much learned it all already…"

Not all of us were as willing to go home – Sirius sat gloomily underneath the big oak in the middle of the grounds for most of the last two days.

The day before we were set to leave, I wandered out onto the grounds to join him, knowing that he would probably need a little support. His family had made it quite obvious that if he wasn't in Slytherin, he didn't belong to the Black family. He heard my footsteps as I approached but looked away when we made eye contact.

Everything about him was depressing. His hair hung loosely around his face, but it drooped instead of having its normal love of life. His back was pressed deep into the trunk of the oak and his arms wrapped around curled-up legs.

We were silent for a long while after I sat down before he finally spoke.

"What's your family like," he asked. I sat still for a moment before responding.

"You mean, what do they do? How they act?"

"Yeah, all that stuff"

"Well, I mean… My dad and my mom … I mean, my stepmom, live at home-"

"You're parents divorced?"

"No. My mom died giving birth to my baby brother."

"Oh."

There was a long period of silence after that. He seemed like he thought it had been wrong of him to ask about my mother.

"It's okay," I finally spoke. "I didn't know her. My stepmom treats me like her kid anyway, so I do have a mom now."

"That's good." His voice was awfully low and quiet.

"Yeah, I have my older brother Taylor and my younger brother Isaac who are from my mom. Isaac is my baby brother – the one… yeah… Then my stepmom had two sons from her life before she married my dad – their dad walked out on them. Harvest is the older one, just a year older than me, and Leon is the younger one, a year younger than Isaac."

"I don't know a Harvest or a Taylor– do they go here?"

"Yes and no." I responded. "Taylor's a seventh year, so he just graduated. Harvest's a Muggle – my stepmom had no wizard blood and neither did their dad. My mom was a Muggle too – I'm half and half."

"Ah."

"Yeah"

Silence fell again. The weather was getting hotter as the sun rose further into the sky and there were several students dipping their feet into the Black Lake. Birds flew in and out of the Forbidden forest and several squirrels chattered in the tree above us, yet Sirius sat undisturbed and quiet.

"I'm sorry," I finally said. "I'm sorry you have to go back to that kind of family." He didn't respond so I continued. "My dad said that the Blacks are one of the longest running pure-blood houses there is now – he said that some houses go crazy about their status, like yours, while others don't really – the Prewetts and the Weasleys don't, for example."

When Sirius still didn't make a move to answer, I stood up and moved closer to him, putting my head on his shaggy hair and ruffling it a bit.

"Don't forget that we're always here for you, Sirius."

That was the last time I spoke to Sirius the rest of our first year. He loaded the train without a sound and even refused James' coercing when they were in their compartment. Instead, he stared out the window, barely listening to the rest of the conversation.

When the train pulled into King's Cross, I watched as he was pulled away by a menacingly large woman and her frail, stubborn looking husband. Looking between James and Jay, we all nodded in agreement.

If there was one thing we could do for Sirius, it was to rescue his summer.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So this one is a lot longer than the previous one... HALLELUJAH!!! :D

Anyway, I'm sorry to say that I won't be posting a lot for Second Year. It's not really that important except for growing suspicions regarding Remus' frequent (and regular) disappeances.

Also, I won't be posting for a while because I actually have to write this out on Word before I can post it here - its a pet peeve thing, forgive me.

LoveLove - COMMENT!!!!


	7. 7: Summer and Letters

After Sirius left, there was only Jay, James, and I left of our group. Waving goodbye, James headed off with his parents (who waved sprightly to Jay and I as we watched him leave) and we boarded the train back toward home. We had to share a compartment with a muggle family, so it was difficult to talk about anything interesting during the ride home. We finally gave up and started watching the countryside fly by.

"You know," Jay finally said, brushing a lock of her hair behind her ear as she spoke. "I dunno if I was ready to go home. Mum and Dad won't be home when I get there, you know. Brian is still in Brazil for that exchange program. And Jeremy is still a baby. There is nothing there for me to do…" As she trailed off into silence, I glanced at her face again. She was obviously downtrodden, but I really couldn't understand why. Even though she was muggleborn, she had everything she ever wanted – a loving, very wealthy family, a good upbringing, a boyfriend (Brian), and a gigantic home that you could spend a whole afternoon finding your way out of.

I shrugged, unsure of what to say. She didn't continue, so I assumed that the conversation was over – it still left me uneasy, though, and I was on edge for the rest of the trip home. Even my thoughts about rescuing Sirius from his parents had been put on hold because of my worries for Jay. But it wasn't really about Jay anymore either. Would my stepmom think any differently of me because of my new education? Would Isaac understand why I had left him for so long? And Harvest – would he even be home anymore?

After we deboarded, I turned toward Jay to wish her a good summer but she was already gone – I could see the taxi pulling away into the Sunday afternoon traffic. Dad was waiting for me at the end of the platform after we got off the train. We hugged briefly and as he took my luggage and popped the trunk, I noticed my little brothers with their faces plastered against the window with happy grins. Even my stepmom had opened the door and was getting out with a smile and warm welcome on her lips.

Finally I realized it - I was glad to have finally come home.

June went by in a flash. The only communication I had gotten from anyone was a letter that Jay sent me telling me that she got home safe and that Sirius had told James who had told Remus to tell her to tell me that Sirius wouldn't be sending any letters due to the fact that his mother had punished him with an enormous amount of chores because of Gryffindor house's "lack of integrity".

There was very little that happened that summer – no mail, no major events, no… nothing. Not that I was really complaining. I liked having the summer to myself, rolling around in our grassy backyard with Isaac and Leon, playing football with Harvest, and having semi-intelligent discussions with my Dad (most of them concerning mousetraps and their unfortunate nature of trapping things other than mice).

Finally, on a hot, extremely humid day at the end of July, an owl came tapping on my window. I had just come up to my room after lunch and had finally committed to start my summer homework, when I heard the _tap tap tap_ on my window. I undid the latch with my thumb and the owl almost exploded through the small opening, knocking several books off of the windowsill in the process. Grabbing the exhausted owl by the legs, I hauled him up into my arms and set him on my bookshelf where a small dish of water had been laying out for one of Harvest's cats. The owl hooted gratefully as I undid the letter, noting that the handwriting was quite familiar.

_Ana – _

_I hope you are well. Nothing much has changed over here. I'm sorry that none of us could write to you sooner, but Lily has been nagging us over the summer work and I have barely gotten a moments sleep._

"Sure…" I said aloud. "You have been dreadfully sad about Lily living so close…" Rolling my eyes, I read on.

_Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that Jay and I have been talking and we thought about a plan to help Sirius out. Note that we have no rescue plan. I staked out Sirius' address and apparently it doesn't exist, so I don't know if he was just fooling around or if there is something else going on. We are still planning to help his summer get better though – if you can send us any money that you can, even a single Knut (well, hopefully more than a Knut), we're going to buy him some stuff that will help him survive his dreadful summer._

_Also, mum wants to know if you can come over a couple weeks before school starts. She says that she'll take us down to Diagon Alley to get our school supplies. Remus already says he's gonna come (but he'll be late, something about having a funeral that day or something – although planning for a funeral that far in advance is kinda odd) and the same with Jay. I'll see if I can arrange to get you a ride._

_-James_

_P.S. – Please give the owl some water. He probably got a little lost and has been flying for a couple days. Thanks._

I folded the letter back up and watched as James' owl drink from the cat bowl. Hooting in gratitude, he then fell over on the bookshelf and promptly went to sleep. I shook my head and laughed – it was just like James to give the longest trip to his oldest owl. While I waited for the owl to wake, I sat back down on my bed, shoving my potions work aside to make room for the letter I was about to write.

_James –_

_I don't have much money other than a couple sickles but I'll ask my dad for some and send as much along with this note as I can (especially because I don't trust your owl to carry all of it on his own). Maybe I'll have Socks accompany him just in case…_

I glanced over at the corner of my room across from my bed. Inside an open wire cage, a brown barn owl sat perched on a bar. He had been a gift a while back and I had named him Socrates – "Socks" for short". Currently Socks was staring at James' still sleeping owl with disgust. He noticed that I was looking at him and turned around in his cage before hooting to himself.

_Yeah, I think I'll send Socks along. Do your best to put that money to good use. Sirius desperately needs help with his pissoff mum. I wish she would take her wand out of her arse and… I digress._

_Your plans for Diagon Ally sound good as well. Just let me know the date and I'll be there. Dad won't make a fuss – as long as I get all my chores done for the rest of the summer. Urgh. And you're right about Remus – he does have some of the strangest family gatherings. Didn't he just have a funeral last May? Hmm…_

_Sending the best, Ana_

_P.S. I know Lily isn't bothering you as much as you say. Honestly._

I folded the letter up and stuffed it into the nearest envelope I could grab. I almost slapped a stamp on it, but I caught myself at the last moment. I laughed at my mistake and set the letter aside. I wouldn't be able to send it until James' owl woke up.

Heaving myself off from my bed, I headed outside to find my father – he had what was to become Sirius' relief money, after all. My potions homework would have to wait.


	8. 8: Fighting and Forever

I skipped down the stairway after finishing my letter to James. Isaac was sitting in the foyer playing with a little toy truck and some jelly beans (I think he was pretending they were rocks… I can't be sure) and my mum… stepmum… and Harvest were conversing over a pot that smelled really good. I found my father in the garden, tending to his strawberries – they weren't doing very well this season and he had spend much of his at-home time pouring affection over them in the hope that they would return the favor. Approaching him via the walkway that followed a circular path around his garden, I tapped him on the shoulder and he popped, startled.

"What do you –" he started, rounding on me with a growl. I wasn't completely surprised at his reaction, but I still jumped slightly. When he saw me, his face broke into a smile. "Oh, hey sweetie."

"Hi Daddy," I responded, crouching down at the brick border to the garden. I ran finger over a brown leaf on one of the strawberry plants. "How are the strawberries?"

He only growled in response. The strawberries were browner than yesterday, and it had been unusually humid in the area for a couple of weeks – my mum had warned him about watering them properly, but had he listened?

I sighed, trying to contain my laugher at his frustrated expression. I inwardly hoped that it was not a bad time to be asking him for a little extra on my next allowance.

"Hey daddy," I began, trying to sound sweet and cheerful – I found that usually helped. "You remember Sirius, right? Sirius Black?" He had been looking at me thoughtfully for a moment, until I mentioned Sirius' surname. His face then grew very dark.

"Was that the boy you were talking to on the platform? The one that hugged you?"

"No, daddy, that was James Potter. Sirius is the other one I mentioned in my letters home. I assume you had to read Isaac his letters, so you would have heard about him." His face was still dark as I spoke. He had stopped tending to his garden and had put his hand spade down by his feet as he crouched low over the leafy fruits. "He's friends with James and Jay and Remus and I…"

"What do you mean by friends?" he asked suddenly. I didn't really know what he meant, so I cocked my head to the side in what have been a questioning look. "Are you close to him, or are you just acquaintances? I don't want you to be rubbing shoulders with Slytherins, sweetie, especially any of the Black clan". He said Sirius' surname as if he had just tasted something horrible. I knew that most wizards didn't like the Black family, but my father was usually quite understanding.

"He's just a friend, daddy. We study together, all of us." I continued, crossing my arms as I did so. "I help him with Charms sometimes, and he gives me extra help with Transfiguration, you know, that sort of thing."

"You study with Slytherins? Is that the kind of people you surround yourself with?" His voice had gotten much more venomous.

"He's a _friend_, daddy," I said, startled that he would make that kind of accusation against Sirius. Sirius _detested_ Slytherins. "And he's not in Slytherin. He's in Gryffindor with us. He's not like them." I was practically begging my dad to understand – he didn't know Sirius, but he was already judging him, something that he rarely, if ever, did! Honestly, how much damage can a twelve year old wizard do to earn him this kind of reputation?

"Honey, do you know what the Black family has done?" I shook my head, without speaking, but I was really beginning to detest this conversation. "Only thirty years ago, his family was well known as the greatest supporters of Grindewald. They never even renounced him when he was defeated. Sweetheart, the Black family is one of the worst discriminators against Muggles in history – they would never allow a wizard of muggle descent cross the threshold of their house."

"But Sirius knows that I'm half-and-half and he doesn't care… Jay is muggleborn and he has never said a bad word about her to anyone!"

"That doesn't change the fact-"

"That what?" I finally spat. "That just because he was unfortunately born into a bad family that he automatically becomes a bad person?"

"That's enough, Ana."

"No, it's not enough!" I knew that I was going to get punished for my outburst, but I wouldn't stand my father slandering Sirius' name without ever meeting him in first place. "The only time he ever hurt anyone purposefully was when he jinxed Bellatrix Black because she was torturing a first year! He would never hurt anyone! Ever! Unless they were hurting someone else! You don't even know him!"

"I don't need to know him, Keirana." He used my full name – I was screwed. His face was contorted in anger and he stood, leaving his spade stuck halfway into the dirt around the strawberries. "I'm your father and I forbid you to have any relationship – acquaintance or otherwise – with a Black boy. You will not go near him again."

It took a moment for his words to sink in. _Never see Sirius again? _I thought. _That means no going near him… or James… or Jay or Lily unless we're in the dorm. No joking around with him. No _talking_ to him like we had the last week of school._ This was unfair – Sirius had never done anything to deserve this.

"You don't know anything!" I screamed back at him, tears running down my face. "You don't know anything at all!"

I then turned and ran back into the house, accidentally trampling his precious strawberries beneath my feet as I did so.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The house that had just been brimming with life only moments earlier was now silent as a stone as I made the dash from kitchen to foyer to bedroom. If they had seen me, they didn't say anything to me as I passed. I ran up the stairs, tripping on one and falling forward. I caught myself and made the final jog down the hall into my room. I slammed my door behind me and threw myself on my bed. My school books went flying everywhere – at least I was smart enough not to leave ink on the bed – and my favorite quill snapped underneath my weight.

Even with that, I was too distraught to fret about it – I had other issues that I was trying to deal with. My best friends no longer existed according to my father. There would be no more conversing with James or Jay if I was not supposed to be "acquainted with" Sirius. I sobbed into my pillow, worried that I would be completely isolated for being forced to snub Sirius.

He wasn't bad. He wasn't even really a Black – he had disowned his family long before he was sorted into Gryffindor. It's just as if James had been cruel – Dad would have let me be friends with him because his parents are good friends of our family. Like that was any fairer. _If only dad would understand!_

I stayed with my face in my pillow for what seemed like a long time. When I finally turned over, I'm sure it was obvious that I had been crying. I could feel the tears drying around the corner of my eyes and my face was hot. I sat up cross-legged with my back against the wall and stared at the ceiling. My dad had no right to decide who my friends were – he didn't know _anything_.

After a minute or so of sitting there getting my breath back to normal, I remembered exactly why I had gone out to talk to my father in the first place: Sirius' money.

I knew that I was going to get no sympathy from my father, especially since he had just told me that I wasn't allowed to talk to Sirius. Instead, I hopped down from my bed and made my way over to my dresser. I started going through all my clothes, looking for spare coins in the pockets of my pants. When I was done with that, I moved on to my closet and scavenged through all of the jacket pockets. When all was said and done, I had collected a grand total of fifteen sickles and twenty-four knuts. It was not nearly the amount that I had hoped to send, but it was as good as I was going to get. I slid all the coins into a drawstring bag and went over to Socks, who had been looking at me with pity ever since I had come in and slammed the door. I reached through the open door of his cage and coaxed him onto my hand.

Walking over to the nightstand that James' owl was now perched dazedly on, I set Socks down and went to tie the coin purse to his right leg. After I double checked the knot, I moved on to James' owl, tying my response to its left leg. Then, just as I reached across the nightstand to open the window, I knocked James' letter off of the nightstand and onto the floor. The window was open, so both owls took off with a simple hoot from Socks. As I reached down for the letter, I noticed that something was attached to the back – I hadn't seen it earlier. Turning the letter over, I pulled an extra envelope away from the first piece of parchment.

I opened the envelope, hoping for a letter from either Lily or Remus. Instead, I pulled out a picture – one of all six of us near the Black Lake some nice afternoon. We were all standing close, but none of us seemed to know that the picture was being taken. Sirius, Jay, and I were sitting in the shade of a large tree laughing at something, while James and Lily were standing and seemed to be arguing (quite comically). Remus had his back against a tree and was looking back and forth between the two groups with a large smile on his face. I gazed at the picture for a moment, and then turned it over. There, in James' tiny print, was a note.

_We look good as a group, don't we? Maybe we should come up with a name for ourselves – _

_The Six Musketeers, the Six Marauders! The Super Spectacular Six!_

I couldn't help but laugh – it was like James to come up with the idea of having a "team name". Then, as I moved my right thumb, I noticed another note. It was hidden in the corner, but it was in larger print than the first.

_Mates Forever_

Stifling back a tear, I looked up into the sky and watched as the two owls disappeared into the moonlight. Forever seemed like it was about to end.

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A/N:

Just to remove a lot of confusion, these are some diagrams of Ana's home. I might do some of Hogwarts later. Anyway… I guess a version of Quicktime is required to view these. Sorry if you can't see them.

Ana's House:

Floor One: http:// img7 .imageshack .us /img7 /8894 /anashousefloor1. png

Floor Two: http://img6 .imageshack .us/img6 /6195 /anashousefloor2. png

Ana's Room: http://img4 .imageshack .us/img4 /8356 /anasroom. png


	9. 9: Hide, Seek, and Bean

The rest of the summer continued as it had begun – the house was generally quiet, with the only noises being the occasional vacuum cleaner downstairs or the rare friend that came over to play with Taylor or Leon. Isaac generally stayed to himself either in his room or in the foyer, and I tended to do the same. My father had not spoken to me since that day, mostly because my mother had told him never to go into my room – apparently with four other boys in the house it was my only "sanctuary". Now that I refused to come out of it except for meals, I made sure that he had no opportunity to repeat his unkind gesture.

It was one of those Monday afternoons in August where I knew I should have gone outside because it was the last time it would be nice before the late summer heat and humidity set in, but once again I was barricaded in my room finishing the last of my summer work. My potions essay had lay finished on my desk for a couple of weeks and as I scratched the last words of my charms essay ("The Use and Regulation of the Memory Modifying Charm"), there was a clicking on the sill of my window. I rose, wearily, to open the window for Socks, who had returned alone with another letter. He had returned empty-legged the time I had sent him out with Sirius' money. This time he seemed to be compensating for that, nipping gently at my hands until I untied the letter. Patting him on the head, I allowed him to return to his cage and finish off the mouse he had hunted the night before last. Returning to my bed, I pushed a pillow up against the wall and set my charms essay, my ink and my (new, second favorite) quill on my nightstand. Curling up in a ball with my back against the pillow against the wall, I carefully ripped open the letter and began to read.

_Ana,_

_I hope the rest of your summer has been going by well. James wanted me to tell you that he is expecting you sometime this week to go to Diagon Alley with us. Lily is looking forward to having another girl nearby – Jay isn't here yet either. I'm sorry I didn't write you sooner, but Lily told me not to worry, that you and James were writing. _

_Speaking of James, he's looking over my shoulder as I'm writing this and he says thank you for the money for Sirius – apparently he went to Gambol and Japes and got a whole bunch of joke stuff. Fireworks, itching powder, some sort of biting candy, etc. _

Off to the side, a little note was scrawled in James' handwriting. _HI ANA!_ it said. Someone, probably Remus, had charmed it to fade in and out of the page. I chuckled and continued.

_From the sounds of things, it seems like Sirius was really grateful. Apparently while his mother was getting her hand out of the newest edition to the Black museum (a biting vase), Sirius was able to sneak a letter out to James. He said that he was sorry he couldn't write more, but to thank everyone for the help._

_We all miss you Ana. We hope to see you by Saturday._

_Remus_

I tossed the letter back on my nightstand and curled up in a ball on my bed. I only hoped that my father would allow me to visit James. I was sure that he would – the Potters were pureblood Gryffindors after all. Glancing at the alarm clock on the side of my bed (it was five o'clock) I turned over and faced the wall, pulling my pillow underneath my head.

At least Sirius was having fun this summer. He may have gotten in trouble for his revenge, but at least he was able to laugh it off at the end of the day. My mouth turned upward at the thought of his mother, the fat old witch, dancing madly around a hallway attempting to remove a vase's teeth from her hand. With that thought, my eyes slowly fell closed and I drifted off toward sleep.

Two minutes into finally being relaxed, I heard a soft knock on my door. Without looking up, I called "Come in" and I heard the door handle turn quietly and the door drag softly against the carpet. A pair of feet made their way around the end of my bed, then a pause, before I felt a small depression of the mattress near my ankles. The person then crawled up the bed until he was lying down between me and the wall.

"Hi Isaac" I whispered, opening my eyes to find his brown ones looking pitifully at me. "What are you doing?"

He was quiet. I knew that he probably wouldn't say anything for a while. He usually didn't talk when he was under emotional strain. He mostly just sat quietly or went and played with his toys until he was calm enough to speak. I reached my right arm over his body and pulled him close to me. We had a particularly strong bond, my brother and I. Taylor was too old for us – he was always hanging out with his friends and never had time for his siblings. Even Harvest and Leon weren't as close to us – they weren't family in the blood sense and there always was something stronger between blood siblings.

Isaac and I laid there in silence for a while. I could feel him breathing against my chest – he was smaller than me by a good foot, and his hair, brown and fine, was tickling my nose. Then…

I sneezed. Hard. Hard enough that my whole body spasmed.

If Isaac had been asleep he wasn't now. He looked up at me with those big brown eyes and laughed. I couldn't help but smile.

"Why you little…" I started, reaching for his sides and tickling him until he couldn't breathe for laughing. When we were done, we collapsed back onto the bed and silently stared up at the ceiling. It was Isaac that broke the silence.

"Are you okay, big sister?"

I looked over at him with a sad smile.

"Of course I'm okay." He looked unsure, as if he was confused between my words and the truth on my face.

"Cause you haven't come out of here since breakfast. You never come out anymore. Bean and I are lonely." I smiled at the reference to his little stuffed rabbit. He never went anywhere without Bean. I glanced up toward the end of the bed, and sure enough, the little white rabbit was sitting in the corner against the wall. "We can't play hide and go seek because Bean doesn't know how to play unless you're playing with us." His little six year old voice was getting to me. I felt so bad for abandoning Isaac simply because of my spat with Dad.

"Big sister's been busy." I replied. It was a lame excuse, and he knew it. Curling up tighter against my stomach, he hugged me with his one free arm.

"I miss you big sister. Don't go away again this year."

I almost started crying again. I had gone to Hogwarts last summer and he had waved goodbye as I had left for Kings Cross, holding Bean tightly against him. I couldn't tell him that I was leaving this week! He would be miserable.

"I have to go Isaac. All my friends are there at school." I pushed him away a little so that I could see his face. He looked up at me, his eyes almost wet. "But you know what? I think that you and I should go out and play today. How about hide-and-seek with Bean! You know he would like that."

And, like every six year old, Isaac leaped up onto his feet – he bounced on the bed, all worries forgotten. Then, racing out the door, he grabbed the lonely little rabbit with one hand and yelled behind him "You're it, Ana!"

I smiled softly and proceeded to put my head back down on my pillow, sighing.

One…two…three…four…

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The week finished in the same fashion – I slowly began to emerge from my bedroom/refuge day after day. I had told my mum about my departure on Friday for James' house, but my father didn't speak a word to me, or anyone else for that matter, when I was in the room. I did begin to smile more as Isaac got me to play hide-and-seek with him and Bean so many times that week. I would wake up in the morning to find him curled up next to me, sleeping as quietly as a mouse with Bean curled up around his head. One such morning (Friday, as it were), I smiled down at him and kissed him on the forehead before pushing myself up and off of my bed. I successfully avoided waking him and as silently as I could I pulled the chair away from my desk and began writing Remus back a note.

_Hey-_

_I should be leaving today (Friday), so I may get there before this letter does, but I must ask a favor of you. If I seem upset at James' house, please don't ask me why. Tell the others that too. My summer has been alright but there might be some issues that come to light this afternoon with my departure._

_Send everyone my love until I get there._

_~Ana_

Socks had seen me pull out the piece of parchment and he had his leg out to me when I had finished folding the letter. Tying it to his leg, I gave him a final pat on the head and then unlatched my window to let him out.

"Take this to Remus at James' place," I said. "And then you can stay there. I'll be there after a little while". I thought for a moment, and then continued. "And whatever you do, don't give James the letter. I don't care if you have to peck at him". Socks gave an acknowledging hoot and then spread his long wings and took off into the morning sky. He began his ascent just as the sun did and I closed the window as he disappeared from sight.

Sighing, I pushed the latch down on the window and went back over to the bed. Isaac was still laying there, sound asleep. Shaking him gently to wake him up, I helped him to his feet and led my groggy little brother down to breakfast, wishing myself luck on the way downstairs.


End file.
